Totem PolesPacific Northwest Coastal Indiansin Olden Times for Kids

A Totem Pole is an artistic way that some Pacific Northwest Coastal tribes use to tell a story.

You might think because of their love of carving and their artistic ability, and because they loved tall tales, that the Indians who lived in the Puget Sound area of Washington State in olden times might have created the first totem pole. They did not. This art form was brought to them via trade from tribes along the Pacific coast to the north and from the south. They loved the idea, and quick adopted it as their own.